Grace University

Grace University is an American private Christian University located in Omaha, Nebraska. The university includes undergraduate programs and the Grace University College of Professional and Graduate Studies.HistoryFounded in 1943, Grace was originally intended as an interdenominational Bible institute where Christian men and women might further their theological training. The ten ministers and leaders counted as Grace's founders (August Ewert, Albert Ewert, Albert Schultz, Peter Kliewer, Paul Kuhlmann, Harold Burkholder, John Barkman, C.H. Suckau, Solomon Mouttet, and John Tieszen) originally met to discuss relocating the Bible department of Oklahoma Bible Academy. After several days of prayer, they decided that really what was needed was a place of higher education.Originally called Grace Bible Institute, the school opened in the fall of 1943 with a grand total of 23 students and six professors. No tuition was charged; instead, students performed "30-minute jobs" every day. That changed in 1948 when the Accrediting Association required member schools to charge money. The original tuition was a flat $50 fee. In 1976, the school's name was changed to Grace College of the Bible. On July 1, 1995, the school officially became Grace University, emphasizing the school's new academic identity.Grace's original home was in the former site of the recently shuttered Presbyterian Theological Seminary. In less than a year the college was able to purchase Stuntz Hall on South 10th Street in Omaha. The current campus includes that lot (the hall, by then known as Old Main, was torn down in the 1990s because of decay and safety concerns) as well as the surrounding city blocks. In 1977, the University purchased St. Catherine’s Hospital Center for Continuing Care. This purchase added almost 2.7acre to the campus and doubled facility space.